Kovember 12, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULiURS AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



431 



the Selling' class, for which we were told the new owner ab- 

 solutely refused eleven sovereigns ! In Cochins (Buffs), the 

 competitiou was excellent and a close run. The first-prize pen, 

 though very young, were extraordinarily lartje and of good colour ; 

 the second-prize being a very highly conditioned pair, the pullet 

 a gem, but the cockerel by far too high-coloured on the shoulder, 

 slightly barred on the wing with a narrow line of white, and 

 did not carry his wings as satisfactorily as he might have done. 

 A few pullets of grand colour and shape were also shown, but 

 mated with indifferent cockerels. The Partridge Cochins were 

 in admirable feather, and comprised twenty-three pens, twelve 

 of which appear in the list of awards. At the head was a grand 

 pen of Mr. Tudman's, the cockerel being a perfect giant, with 

 resplendent black breast and general plumage, whilst his com- 

 panion puUet was one of those most accurately-marked gems so 

 rarely seen now-a-days, but which were so admired by amateurs 

 of some twenty years or more back. The third-prize pair, 

 shown also by Mr. Tudman, were equally remarkable for Cochin 

 type and the heavy leg-feather and fluff for which most Par- 

 tridge Cochin breeders now seek in vain. It is scarcely to be 

 wondered at that such superiority of Mr. Tudman's strain of 

 Partridge-coloured Cochins should raise irritable feelings in the 

 breasts of those who pride themselves in fruitless endeavours to 

 despoil that gentleman's yard of its well- deserved notoriety. 

 Both Light aud Dark Brahmas were very large classes, among 

 which were a number of most excellent chickens, but the order 

 of the day seemed to be the selection of first-class pullets to in- 

 ferior cockerels. 



Game were throughout the finest classes yet seen this season. 

 Brown Eeds and Black Keda of either sex being general ; 

 and the Duckwing pullets deserve a special note as to their 

 excellent quality. A protest for painting the wings of the cup 

 Duckwing Game pullet was entered, but proved to be utterly 

 groundless. This new kind of annoyance against successful 

 exhibitors requires, as will be seen by what follows, a little 

 careful investigation, aud prior rules for its due administra- 

 tion, as beiug apt in the hands of the disappointed or the un- 

 principled to bring on alike uujustifiable expense aud trouble 

 to the managers of similar exhibitions. In Golden-spangled 

 Hamburgh cocks Mr. James Long took the silver cup with a 

 very excellent bird, claimed by himself at a show about a month 

 back at ten guineas. It appears that a notification reached a 

 party at the Oxford Show, who was himself implicated some 

 years back in a matter of the like character, that if this par- 

 ticular bird " won the cup " (pen 427), a protest was to be at 

 once entered against it for being "trimmed" on the breast 

 feathers. Fulfilling to the letter the instructions just named, the 

 protest was presented, but properly refused by the Committee 

 unless sent directly from the objectors. A telegram was re- 

 ceived a few hours later complying with the demand of the 

 Committee, and therefore was at once entertained, it being then 

 getting late in the last afternoon of the Show being open. Mr. 

 Edward Hewitt of Birmingham, as being the nearest available 

 Judge, though not previously officiating in the classes for Ham- 

 burghs at the Oxford Show, was summoned by telegraph, and 

 after the passage of not less than five telegrams, went direct at 

 a moment's notice by the first available train. It proved Mr. 

 Long's bird was unquestionably trimmed on the breast feathers, 

 the white flecks at the tips being very artistically removed by 

 scissors. lu compliance with the usual regulation against trim- 

 ming the cup was consequently withheld. But what now oc- 

 curred seems to give the appearance that Mr. Long was rather 

 sinned against than sinning, for that gentleman astutely sug- 

 gested that the second-prize pen (428), shown by his accusers, 

 Messrs. Duckworth, should be then subjected to the same ordeal, 

 to which all unanimously agreed. The result was this cockerel 

 proved far more thoroughly "trimmed" than the former one. 

 Oar readers will be best able to form their own conclusions as 

 to who might have actually " trimmed " this fowl, the fact of 

 the trimming of both being all that was entertained at the 

 meeting. 



Lovely varieties of Waterfowls formed a large class, and the 

 entries of East Indian Ducks were extraordinarily good. Turkeys^ 

 the heaviest weighed 54{ lbs. net. The best pen of Aylesbury 

 Ducks reached 17) lbs. the pair. 



(From a Correspondent.) 

 Theee has probably never been gathered together a finer 

 collection of chickens than that which was to be seen at Oxford 

 on October 2Sth and 29th; for though many classes at the Bir- 

 mingham Summer Exhibition were filled with remarkable birds, 

 still the average merit was not so uniformly high through all 

 classes. The birds, of course, were not so matured, and there was 

 not the same opportunity of viewing them well and judging them 

 fairly. The Show appeared to us in every sense of the word a 

 success, and the Committee deserve the highest praise for their 

 untiring zeal and peculiar talent for organisation. The greater 

 part of the poultry were shown in the Corn Exchange, a build- 

 ing beautifully lighted from above, aud well ventilated. How 

 strange it seemed to see rows of Mr. Billet's pens all over the 



area, which we have seen cleared for the gorgeous masonic 

 balls at Commemoration. The numbers were well arranged — 

 no running up aud dowu was necessary to find the separated 

 halves of classes, as is so often the ease, and still it was so 

 managed that those varieties which peculiarly require a good 

 light to be appreciated were advantageously placed. In a gallery 

 at the end of the building were two rows in charming contrast, 

 the one against the wall of Silkies, almost every pen Ijeautifully 

 shown, and in front of them Black East Indian Ducks, so placed 

 that you could look through the pen from either side, and catch 

 their lovely lustrous hues in the fullest light. The Pigeons, 

 Bantams, and a few other classes were iu the Town Hall, a good 

 building for the puii)ose ; and the court-yard between the two 

 buildings was roofed in to form a spacious corridor, with Geese, 

 Ducks, aud Turkeys on either side. 



The Oxford Committee are fortunate as well as able and 

 energetic, for we know of no other show which is to such a 

 degree patronised by all classes. The county families all drive 

 iu to see it, and send many representatives of their yards ; the 

 ancient University, too, by no means despises poultry-keeping 

 as too rustic an amusement. At least three heads of colleges 

 and the venerable archdeacon are fanciers, and might be seen 

 carefully scrutinising the pens; the undergraduate element is 

 not wanting either amongst exhibitors or visitors. The farmers 

 of the neighbourhood take much interest in it, as is evident 

 from the iucreasiug number of local exhibitors. A poultry show 

 really does good which draws farmers iuto the fancy; they 

 have the best opportunities for rearing good birds, and by a 

 little attention to the subject their stocks may be made really 

 profitable. Lastly, the townspeople came-in in crowds on the 

 second evening. Why the iuhabitants of Bristol, Cambridge, 

 aud other places will not do the same is a mystery. 



To come to particulars, Dorkings headed the list very properly. 

 f\Vhy, by the way, should Birmingham, of all places iu the world, 

 go in for fashion, and displace this old English breed for the 

 popular Brahmas ?) Coloured birds numbered eighteen pens. 

 Judges seem to think that champion cups must necessarily go 

 to this variety. We could not admire the pair to which Prince 

 Leopold's i'5 cup was awarded. The cockerel was large but un- 

 gainly, and held his tail on one side ; the pullet was lighter iu 

 colour than winners generally are now-a-days. Mr. White's 

 second-prize pair were good all round, save that the cockerel's 

 earlobe showed white. Mr. Burnell's third-prize pen contained 

 a grand cockerel, lacking a trifle in sprightliness. Mr. Strat- 

 ford's fourth-prize pen was unequally matched, the cockerel a 

 good Dorking in shape, deep-breasted and full-tailed ; the pullet 

 poor and light in colour. Pen 8 (Taylor) had the advantage of 

 a corner pen, but seemed to us worthy of more than a high 

 commendation, the cockerel good in shape and comb, and with 

 spurs well inside ; 9 (Beachey) were large birds, but the pullet 

 had bad claws aud sooty feet ; 11 (Lingwood) evidently contained 

 an old cock (aud we hear the Judge thought an old hen too), 

 with spurs growing for the second time; 1.5 (Gee) were winners 

 of the local prize, the hen had apparently ouce had a leg broken. 

 On the whole this was not one of the best classes. 



Silver-Greys (fourteen entries). — Here the standard seems 

 going up rapidly; red in the wings of pullets is a rare failing 

 now, aud the cockerels were nearly all veritably black-breasted. 

 The cup pen was liultless ; their owner's highly commended 

 pen contained the finer pullet, but not in such condition as the 

 winner's. The second-prize cockerel was in our opinion far too 

 yellow for a prize Silver-Grey. Third-prize pen contained a 

 large and beautiful pullet; the cockerel too grizzly in thigh 

 Mr. Wren's fourth-prize birds were neat but small. Pen 19 

 (Cato) a well-coloured pullet, silvery, with real robin breast. 

 Pen 21 (Ruttlidge) a fine pullet. The local exhibits in this class 

 were a sad falling-off in quality from the two previous shows. 



Cuckoos (seven entries) were on the whole a failure; the cup 

 pen dark iu colour, and of fair size. The second-prize pair were 

 poor, the cockerel very light, and his hackles yellow. The best 

 Cuckoo we saw in the Show was a cockerel of Lady Dartmouth's 

 in the Selling class. 



White (twelve entries). — The cockerels in this class struck us 

 as being forwarder than the pullets, aud superior to them. The 

 growing tendency in Dorkings to spurs behind seems a special 

 failing in the White variety. The cup pen large, and evidently 

 still young; but the cockerel's comb is coarse, aud when more de- 

 veloped will be to one side. The award of the second prize was 

 incomprehensible ; the birds are both yellow all over. Third- 

 prize handsome cockerel, good in comb, though we preferred 

 the same exhibitor's unnoticed pen (46) for the rare whiteness of 

 the cockerel, the Birmingham cup bird. Pen 41 (Pilgrim), neat 

 though small ; 42 (Robinson) contained the largest pullet in the 

 class, but with a bad comb ; 50 (Tearle) very young and promis- 

 ing birds. 



Spanish (seventeen entries) were not equal to many other 

 classes ; a first-prize Spanish cockerel in the Selling class was 

 a remarkable bird, and with an equally good pullet would have 

 been far before the winners in this class. The pullet in the cup 

 pen was a beautiful bird, the cockerel smooth but not large iu 



